The Ending Was Not ME3's Only Problem

[Jynthor]

while this is mostly true,

Spoiler

if you want the couple second end shot of shepherd taking in a breath

after choosing red, green or blue, you need an EMS > 5000 (4000?). either way that number cannot be reached without participating in the MP game.

fuck that bullshit. MP participation should never impact the SP campaign in any way. period.

Like I said, I had 6500 war assets and finished the game before I ever touched the multiplayer, so I know for a fact it's 100% possible to beat the game with the required amount of EMS without playing the multiplayer once.

yes it is possible to get the "special" GREEN ending. you cannot get the other part i mentioned without participating in the MP game. and that is bullshit. esp if it impacts future DLCs in some fashion ... which remains to be seen.

And the person you responded to said they got 6500 without touching the multiplayer. Which means it is very possible.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Let's end this once and for all.

You have War Assets and EMS.
On the end of my run(And I did pretty much everything), I had 7500+- WAR ASSETS.
However if you don't play Multiplayer your EMS setting is 50%, which means only HALF of your War Assets count. To get the "perfect" ending you need around 5000 EMS.

Thus is is NOT possible to get the "best" ending WITHOUT Multiplayer.
Yes, I'm done now.

It is. The total is 10000 EMS spread by the 3 games. To get the "cliffhanger still a Piece of shit" ending without touching the MP, you need to do every quest, do every decision to benefit the Final battle, and not play on the PS3, because then Kirrahe, Ranna Greenface, Conrad Venrer and other side quest characters are gone, because ME2 doesn't recognize them as existant, and they give GRP. It's impossibly hard, but it is somewhat possible, even if completely unfunny and rage-worty.

I have no idea where you are pulling those numbers from.
I was wrong about the 5000, you actually need around 4000 but it is still impossible.

Participation in Galaxy at War is encouraged to achieve the maximize the Military Strength given by each War Asset. Players who solely focus on the Singleplayer aspect of the game (meaning Galactic Readiness always be at 50%), will be unable to unlock all the possible endings, as a player will need at least 4000 Estimated Military Strength for all endings to become available. According to data found within the game, the total War Assets score is 8370. However, this number unattainable in game as obtaining the War Assets needed will require impossible feats such as both Kaiden and Ashley surviving, or both saving and sacrificing the Council. Currently the highest obtainable War Assets is around numbered around 7700, half of which is clearly far from the needed 4000 ESM to unlock all possible endings (if a player ops not to play multiplayer)

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I think your getting your councils mixed up

in ME2 it was more like "oh..that thing?..it was geth, there are no reapers now carry on.."

and I dont think the decision to court martial shepard in ME3 was the councils, rather alliance, beside the mass relay thing working with cerberus might have been reason enough for a court martial (and I doubt they would have really punished shepard anyway)

YOU!!

...

Hi lol.

In seriousness now, I just dislike the council. They could probably do way more for Shepard and even overrule the Alliance if they're the ones stripping Shepard- yet they just ... urgh. I mean, by the time it's the third game they should be like "Holy crap, it's Shepard. We'll do the best we can for you because you're a legend for saving the Citedal, us, and stopping the almighty race of Collectors that were a huge threat."

Guess Bioware just wants us to hate them, and see how we're still willing to go with the Paragon path (least for me). Oh and what I dislike the most about ME3 besides the ending is that no matter how high your Paragon/Renegade points are, you can't *SPOILER ALERT* save the quarians and the geth unless you've done certain things. I've also heard you can't be with Tali like a couple if you wish to save both races. Darn this game :{

I remember at one point after meeting the council Joker said to me "I always assumed that they did have some plan which they just weren't telling us about because, y'know... Cerberus". And I practically jumped out of my chair saying "Yes! That's exactly what I thought!" But alas, no, they just can't be arsed.

And I was a bit disappointed with the continuation of the Jack romance, too. This is more a personal preference thing, but you only get her mission, the scene in Purgatory and a link to her on the communication relay at the end. It's a real shame, since I thought the dialogue between her and Shepard was really well written, but you basically just agree to have a long-distance relationship and leave it at that. I mean, c'mon; no unhygienic making out in the night club toilets? That's not the Jack I know!

Oh, and on a final note... I really missed how in ME1 people would remember to leave their shields on in cutscenes. Like that bit where you empty your pistol into Saren and he just completely ignores it, or when the panicky scientist jumps you on Feros and fires into your chest to no effect. I know it's nitpicky, but for me at least it helped tie together gameplay and story for me. Now it doesn't come up much in ME3, but I do kind of wonder why in the Renegade options...

Spoiler: Super Renegade Spoiler

Both Wrex and Mordin go down with a few pistol shots, both while fully armoured/geared up.

 

[JamesStone]

while this is mostly true,

Spoiler

if you want the couple second end shot of shepherd taking in a breath

after choosing red, green or blue, you need an EMS > 5000 (4000?). either way that number cannot be reached without participating in the MP game.

fuck that bullshit. MP participation should never impact the SP campaign in any way. period.

Like I said, I had 6500 war assets and finished the game before I ever touched the multiplayer, so I know for a fact it's 100% possible to beat the game with the required amount of EMS without playing the multiplayer once.

yes it is possible to get the "special" GREEN ending. you cannot get the other part i mentioned without participating in the MP game. and that is bullshit. esp if it impacts future DLCs in some fashion ... which remains to be seen.

And the person you responded to said they got 6500 without touching the multiplayer. Which means it is very possible.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Let's end this once and for all.

You have War Assets and EMS.
On the end of my run(And I did pretty much everything), I had 7500+- WAR ASSETS.
However if you don't play Multiplayer your EMS setting is 50%, which means only HALF of your War Assets count. To get the "perfect" ending you need around 5000 EMS.

Thus is is NOT possible to get the "best" ending WITHOUT Multiplayer.
Yes, I'm done now.

It is. The total is 10000 EMS spread by the 3 games. To get the "cliffhanger still a Piece of shit" ending without touching the MP, you need to do every quest, do every decision to benefit the Final battle, and not play on the PS3, because then Kirrahe, Ranna Greenface, Conrad Venrer and other side quest characters are gone, because ME2 doesn't recognize them as existant, and they give GRP. It's impossibly hard, but it is somewhat possible, even if completely unfunny and rage-worty.

I have no idea where you are pulling those numbers from.
I was wrong about the 5000, you actually need around 4000 but it is still impossible.

Participation in Galaxy at War is encouraged to achieve the maximize the Military Strength given by each War Asset. Players who solely focus on the Singleplayer aspect of the game (meaning Galactic Readiness always be at 50%), will be unable to unlock all the possible endings, as a player will need at least 4000 Estimated Military Strength for all endings to become available. According to data found within the game, the total War Assets score is 8370. However, this number unattainable in game as obtaining the War Assets needed will require impossible feats such as both Kaiden and Ashley surviving, or both saving and sacrificing the Council. Currently the highest obtainable War Assets is around numbered around 7700, half of which is clearly far from the needed 4000 ESM to unlock all possible endings (if a player ops not to play multiplayer)

Wait, WHAT? The last time I checked the wiki (ok it was 2 months ago), they said it was 5000 EMS. Weird. Maybe they were guidding themselves by what Bioware said. I remember them doing an interview and declaring these numbers. You just suprised me.

 

[Kasten]

Spoiler: ME3 Ending

Basically, you have three choices no matter what you do, red bad explosion effects, green bad explosion effects, blue bad explosion effects. They all do roughly the same thing.

Blue is where you make the Reapers retreat by taking control of them and vaporizing in the process of making them basically just do absolutely nothing forever. Then all the mass relays are destroyed and the Big Damn Heroes Fleet is stuck on earth, most of which can't survive there. WOO! Also Normandy crashes on random planet.

Green is some bullshit 'harder to get' fusion ending where all synthetic life and all organic life fuse into the ultimate life form. Relays destroyed, everybody stranded, Shepard dies by hopping into a petri dish. Normandy crashes on the same random planet.

Red is total destruction of all technology in the galaxy, Ships crash on earth, reapers dead, relays dead, Geth dead, everybody stranded, no real difference. Also, Normandy crashes on random planet.

 

[Slycne]

8. So... if The Collectors had technology that could instantly seek out an immobilize entire populations...

Why the hell did it take *THE REAPERS* -y'know, the hyper-advanced biotechnological monstrosities that built a system of interstellar FTL relays- an entire game to round up and crush the human resistance?

Seriously, I want this explained. The Illusive Man himself bangs on about how powerful/advanced The Reapers are...

"LOOK WHAT THEY CAN DO!"

So someone explain to me how guerilla tactics designed to baffle squads of human soldiers with guns held them in check for *WEEKS*. (And remember, Earth had no outside support. They were 1 planet completely cut off and overrun by the bulk of The Reaper fleet for the entire duration of the game.)

I think that's a pretty easy one to explain in that the Reapers are not actively fighting a ground war with them. I believe Anderson mentions it at some point, but the Reapers are basically taking their sweet time vaporizing every last person in the major population centers. Why should they care if a few humans go hole up in the mountains? They are not going any where, and we know it took them decades to wipe out everyone in the last cycle.

Now if you want to question why the Reapers never invented weapons of mass destruction and instead choose to intimately red laser beam everyone to death, that might be worth asking. I mean, I guess it might have something to do with preserving as much life but what they are trying to wipe out, but they don't exactly seem all that worried about devastating practically every square inch otherwise. And I somehow doubt that husks are going to sit around idly next to say a cow.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

There is nothing that can't be explained by space magic and entitlement. Space magic is magic and it is also magic entitlement. It turns everyone into Bishop from Aliens and makes Shepard

Spoiler

dead (but not actually dead, just space-magic-still-controlling-the-reapers-dead) or survive a magic explosion and fall back to Earth

and makes everyone an entitled magic whiner.

Now if you want to question why the Reapers never invented weapons of mass destruction and instead choose to intimately red laser beam everyone to death, that might be worth asking.

Because the laser beams are also made of space magic and entitlement - the Catalyst's two greatest weapons.

 

[Jynthor]

Mass Effect 3 is an all-around piece of shit disguised in shiny, expensive paint. It's a sad truth. Also, BSN is a horrible, fascist place full of retards and retards who can ban other retards.
fuck you, Stanley Woo. I hope you get impaled on a million forks.

END OF LINE

 

[AbstractStream]

Though OP has some good points (quests menu, the crucible, and God...that disappearing squadmate glitch during conversations annoyed the hell out of me), they can be overlooked. I did. No one ever said the ending was the only problem with the game. ME3 is far from perfect, but that doesn't mean it isn't great. (Varying opinions and such.)

Plus, I quite liked how Garrus and Liara were the confidants. They were my favorite squadmates anyway.

 

[RJ 17]

Snip

First I'd like to say "NO. STOP. SHUT UP." on the fact that making any complaints about ME 3 at this point is sooooooo two months ago.

But we're here anyways, right? Might as well go down the list.

1: People had been requesting ME multiplayer since the first game, they were REALLY wanting a co-op campaign. Well Shepard works "alone" in the sense that no one's as badass as him/her. And as much as everyone would love to play 2nd player as Garrus, it just wouldn't be the same. As such, the multiplayer which effects the campaign is a decent middle-ground between having multiplayer that's utterly disconnect and a full-fledged co-op campaign.

2: I'll give you this one...ME 1's quest tracking was the best, each quest would update and specifically say "You've already been to this place in this system, now you have to go to this place in this system. All done? Well you're ready to go back to the Citadel and turn it in." Now we just get some BS list that just mentions "Some guy needs something. Go find it. NO! We're most certainly NOT going to tell you whether or not you found it in that last round of scanning!"

That and I don't like how the quest log ALWAYS jumps 2/3 of the way down into the "already completed" section, making you scroll back to the top to find what you still have to do...incidentally I also don't like how the weapon upgrade menu jumps back to the top after each upgrade you purchase...

3: Hasn't happened to me very often...every now and then, though an engineer my place a "cloaked" turret which can be rather annoying. But in many cases it seems like an animation glitch prevents someone from standing up or moving to where they're supposed to be so that when the camera cuts over to where they SHOULD be they're still where they were. Just saying technically, at least in my experience, people don't actually go invisible.

4: Another nit-pick if you ask me. It didn't take more than two or three tweaks to get my imported face from "wtf is this?" back to "That's how it's supposed to look." But then again I'm not OCD about having to mess with EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY in the face customization. I normally just mess with the eye color, maybe change the eyebrows, pick myself some hair and hair color, if I'm making a FemShep I'll give her some lipstick and eye shadow, then the character is good to go.

5: Ehhhh, yeah, I was kinda disappointed with the way the Rachni situation ended. Personally - even though I knew it was a pipe dream - I was hoping you'd get a rachni squadmate! Somethign like the dog character from Dragon Age: Origins. I do agree that it seemed like a pretty big cop-out to have them present even if you DID kill the queen in ME 1, but at the same time that'd remove a rather massive threat from the Reaper forces. Then there's the fact that Samara quite clearly states in ME 2: "There are three Ardat-Yacshis (or however it's spelled) in existence...and I have three daughters...it is as it seems." So where are all these damn banshees coming from? But I've let bigger transgressions slide by with the suspension of disbelief. Is it a cop-out in both cases? Yeah, but I'd hardly consider either an experience-ruining defect with the game.

6: Liara actually explains this: "Process of elimination combined with desperation. You've got a massive harddrive filled with tons of data in languages and formats that have been extinct for 50K years...I highly doubt finding the crucible plans would be as easy as saying "Computer, show me some massive weapon schematics." Take it as Serendipity revealing the plans when the galaxy needed them most.

7: Soooooo what, you were wanting the entire cast from ME 2 to be back on the Normandy?

Well aside from the fact that Shepard was relieved of duty and placed under house arrest for a few months being good reason for everyone to scatter from the Normandy, each has their own justifiable reason for not being able to come back.

<spoiler=ME 2 Characters and Why They Cannot Come With You>Jacob: No one misses him, be honest, not even you. So no one cares that he's now wanting to start a life for himself.

Samara: She says herself, in a time of war the Code demands that she goes to where the fighting is most dire, and that is not on the Normandy.

Miranda: She's obsessed with her father and sister, as she always is, and cannot abandon her search for her sister.

Jack: Having learned a thing or two about teamwork and responsibility by joining Shepard's suicide squad, Jack is now a teacher of biotic students. Given her own past, she has become extremely attached to the kids and will not abandon them.

Legion: He returned to the Geth consensus to ensure that they would be ready for the Reapers when they returned. The Geth were subsequently pinned into a war with the Quarians.

Kasumi: Really I never understood why she was in ME 2 to begin with...she's a thief, not a fighter. Which is exactly what she tells you when you start thinking about inviting her to join you in ME 3.

Thane: Too sick to help this time around.

Zaaed: No real reason that he couldn't have joined back up with the main force, I'll admit, other than maybe he's helping to coordinate the mercs that you pick up.

Morinth: She's a wanted murder in countless systems...wouldn't really be wise for Shepard cruising around with her.

Mordin: Felt guilty about his work with the genophage so he wanted to make things right. As such he joined up with the facility working on the Krogan females. You then either shoot him in the back, he makes the noble sacrifice, or you both agree the cure is bad if Reeve is in charge and as such he goes into hiding to avoid retribution.

8: Simple, really, it's the same reason there's no Collectors in ME 3: the Seeker Swarms were all wiped out with the destruction/irradiation of the Collector Base.

As for why conquering Earth took so long? Well as far as I can tell, ME 3 takes place over the course of two or three months. And while it's easy to take out the major cities, hunting through the less populated areas of the planet would take much longer to do a clean-sweep since, as I mentioned, the Collectors and all their tech was wiped out with the Collector Base.

Snap

With regards to the Council in ME 2: Yeah, I gotta say I thought it was bullshit how they all went back to denying the existence of the Reapers despite everything that happened in ME 1, so I can't really argue that.

ME 3: Shepard wasn't specifically grounded for the Alpha Relay incident. In fact, if you didn't play that DLC, Shepard wasn't even involved in that incident, it was just a generic Alliance marine team. Shepard was in custody for going completely rogue and AWOL by joining up with Cerberus - a known terrorist group and enemy to all Citadel species - to stop the Collectors. Yes, Shepard was doing it for the right reasons, but that doesn't change the fact that he joined up with Cerberus...which rebuilt him after his death...I think the Alliance's skepticism and mistrust of Shepard upon his/her return is justifiable.

As for the Multiplayer and Squadmates...the squadmates I've already addressed in the above section, the multiplayer unlocking system....ehhh, yeah, the randomness of the unlocking can be a bit frustrating, but I'd hardly call it a major fault. It's clearly a tactic to keep people playing the multiplayer, but at the same time, it does prevent everyone from using the same 3 badass guns and classes right from the get-go. Am I annoyed that I STILL haven't gotten a Geth Infiltrator? Yeah...but there's plenty of other fun classes out there in the mean time.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

I was going to read your entire opening post.... but then I saw the mind numbing and pointless hate for multi-player.....

Soooooo what? You didn't want to immortalize a fantastic franchise and give you ans your friends the chance to revisit it together and have a lot of fun doing it? Btw, it is fun and requires a lot of teamwork.

 

[wintercoat]

while this is mostly true,

Spoiler

if you want the couple second end shot of shepherd taking in a breath

after choosing red, green or blue, you need an EMS > 5000 (4000?). either way that number cannot be reached without participating in the MP game.

fuck that bullshit. MP participation should never impact the SP campaign in any way. period.

Like I said, I had 6500 war assets and finished the game before I ever touched the multiplayer, so I know for a fact it's 100% possible to beat the game with the required amount of EMS without playing the multiplayer once.

yes it is possible to get the "special" GREEN ending. you cannot get the other part i mentioned without participating in the MP game. and that is bullshit. esp if it impacts future DLCs in some fashion ... which remains to be seen.

And the person you responded to said they got 6500 without touching the multiplayer. Which means it is very possible.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Let's end this once and for all.

You have War Assets and EMS.
On the end of my run(And I did pretty much everything), I had 7500+- WAR ASSETS.
However if you don't play Multiplayer your EMS setting is 50%, which means only HALF of your War Assets count. To get the "perfect" ending you need around 5000 EMS.

Thus is is NOT possible to get the "best" ending WITHOUT Multiplayer.
Yes, I'm done now.

It is. The total is 10000 EMS spread by the 3 games. To get the "cliffhanger still a Piece of shit" ending without touching the MP, you need to do every quest, do every decision to benefit the Final battle, and not play on the PS3, because then Kirrahe, Ranna Greenface, Conrad Venrer and other side quest characters are gone, because ME2 doesn't recognize them as existant, and they give GRP. It's impossibly hard, but it is somewhat possible, even if completely unfunny and rage-worty.

I have no idea where you are pulling those numbers from.
I was wrong about the 5000, you actually need around 4000 but it is still impossible.

Participation in Galaxy at War is encouraged to achieve the maximize the Military Strength given by each War Asset. Players who solely focus on the Singleplayer aspect of the game (meaning Galactic Readiness always be at 50%), will be unable to unlock all the possible endings, as a player will need at least 4000 Estimated Military Strength for all endings to become available. According to data found within the game, the total War Assets score is 8370. However, this number unattainable in game as obtaining the War Assets needed will require impossible feats such as both Kaiden and Ashley surviving, or both saving and sacrificing the Council. Currently the highest obtainable War Assets is around numbered around 7700, half of which is clearly far from the needed 4000 ESM to unlock all possible endings (if a player ops not to play multiplayer)

Wait, WHAT? The last time I checked the wiki (ok it was 2 months ago), they said it was 5000 EMS. Weird. Maybe they were guidding themselves by what Bioware said. I remember them doing an interview and declaring these numbers. You just suprised me.

It's 4000EMS with the final Paragon/Renegade options chosen during the little spat with TIM at the end, 5000 if you don't/can't choose the final Para/Rene option.

Effective Military Strength is your Total Military Strength modified by your Readiness Rating. Without playing multiplayer, your readiness is at 50%, so you would need a TMS of 8000/10000 in order to get the gasp clip.

 

[RJ 17]

It's 4000EMS with the final Paragon/Renegade options chosen during the little spat with TIM at the end, 5000 if you don't/can't choose the final Para/Rene option.

Effective Military Strength is your Total Military Strength modified by your Readiness Rating. Without playing multiplayer, your readiness is at 50%, so you would need a TMS of 8000/10000 in order to get the gasp clip.

I'm actually pretty certain that you need at least 5000 EMS in order to be able to do the final paragon/renegade choice with TIM. My first playthrough I had max personality but only 4500 EMS and I couldn't do the last para/rene conversation option. I got all 3 ending choices possible (and tried them all out, reloading my last save before the ending so I could see them all) but never got the gasp when I tried the Destroy ending. So I'm pretty sure you need at least 5K to make TIM shoot himself, get all 3 possible endings, and get the final gasp.

 

[Scow2]

I was going to read your entire opening post.... but then I saw the mind numbing and pointless hate for multi-player.....

Soooooo what? You didn't want to immortalize a fantastic franchise and give you ans your friends the chance to revisit it together and have a lot of fun doing it? Btw, it is fun and requires a lot of teamwork.

But is unavailable to a large number of players as well, for assorted reasons.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

I was going to read your entire opening post.... but then I saw the mind numbing and pointless hate for multi-player.....

Soooooo what? You didn't want to immortalize a fantastic franchise and give you ans your friends the chance to revisit it together and have a lot of fun doing it? Btw, it is fun and requires a lot of teamwork.

But is unavailable to a large number of players as well, for assorted reasons.

While I have no intention to debate with you, please explain to me the scenario with multiplayer being unavailable as I'm unaware of any issues outside of the PS3.

 

[Scow2]

I was going to read your entire opening post.... but then I saw the mind numbing and pointless hate for multi-player.....

Soooooo what? You didn't want to immortalize a fantastic franchise and give you ans your friends the chance to revisit it together and have a lot of fun doing it? Btw, it is fun and requires a lot of teamwork.

But is unavailable to a large number of players as well, for assorted reasons.

While I have no intention to debate with you, please explain to me the scenario with multiplayer being unavailable as I'm unaware of any issues outside of the PS3.

On Xbox360: The account you play the game on needs to be Xbox LIVE-enabled. I share an Xbox LIVE account with my family for multiplayer games, but prefer using my own, non-LIVE account for single-player games. I'm damn sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

 

[jhoroz]

I agree on a lot of these points, although the multiplayer thing had less to with EA and more to do with the fact that Bioware wanted to do multiplayer for mass effect ever since they released the first game, so blame that on them, not EA.

 

[Goofguy]

Lots of valid points here.

I have no problem with the multiplayer on its own, I think it's pretty fun. However, forcing players to play it in order to achieve the 'best possible ending' is BS. Did anyone here manage to get 4000+ EMS with a default Galactic Readiness of 50%? Because that would blow my mind.

I managed 3400 with 54% GR,and I had a lot of quests left. It would probably take a while, and you'd need both the Geth and Quarians on your side, but \i think you could do it.

I beg to differ. My first playthrough of ME3 was without multiplayer support (my 360 was not connected online). I used a savegame from ME1 and ME2. I completed all side missions in ME3 and played Paragon so I was making friends where it counted. I managed a TMS of about 6800 which meant an EMS of 3400 due to my GR of 50%. I was pretty damn thorough and I was nowhere near the requisite 4000 let alone 5000.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

I was going to read your entire opening post.... but then I saw the mind numbing and pointless hate for multi-player.....

Soooooo what? You didn't want to immortalize a fantastic franchise and give you ans your friends the chance to revisit it together and have a lot of fun doing it? Btw, it is fun and requires a lot of teamwork.

But is unavailable to a large number of players as well, for assorted reasons.

While I have no intention to debate with you, please explain to me the scenario with multiplayer being unavailable as I'm unaware of any issues outside of the PS3.

On Xbox360: The account you play the game on needs to be Xbox LIVE-enabled. I share an Xbox LIVE account with my family for multiplayer games, but prefer using my own, non-LIVE account for single-player games. I'm damn sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

Are you referring to single-player as being unplayable if you lack Xbox Live? If so, silver memberships are enough to play the game. As far as multiplayer, that's Xbox's fault as every game on the system requires multiplayer. This isn't anything new.

Besides, Mass Effect was ORIGINALLY supposed to be an MMO. So adding multiplayer actually brings the series full-circle.

 

[Panorama]

There is no game that has ever, been made that only had one problem. Every game has something no matter how small is an annoyance or something that doesn't work.